My Dad
by TEACHERSIMMONS
Summary: Carlisle and Edward find something in the forest that they don't expect, but all the Cullen's love it as their own...FOREVER.
1. Chapter 1

My Dad

Carlisle's Point of View

When I returned home from the hospital in the early evening, I could tell that my family needed to hunt.

We'd been trying to go for the last few days, but each time we postponed for what could be described as silly reasons. Sometimes, hunting was an invigorating thrill, and sometimes, hunting felt tedious, the way some humans might view grocery shopping when they weren't feeling motivated.

This week, hunting definitely felt like a chore. When I assembled the family in the living room, I silently assessed each person's tension level and eye color. I was no Jasper, but I had lived with these folks long enough to know who was at their breaking point.

Esme, Alice, and Jasper could wait until the rest of us returned. Emmett, Edward, Rose and I needed to go now.

As soon as I hugged Esme and enjoyed her whole-hearted return hug, I kissed her cheek again and the four of us were off.

It didn't take long at all for us to be far away from Forks, far away from any sign of civilization. We had been through this particular area dozens of times, and each of us was sure that we knew the location of every small stone, every decomposing tree stump, every deer path.

Emmett lucked into an oversized elk, and he felt guilty when he realized that the rest of us had found nothing. We were so careful to spread out our hunts so we didn't affect the predator-prey balance too noticeably. What happened to the plentiful wildlife in this area? Where did everything go?

"Carlisle, look," Edward whispered and he pointed north. Only a vampire could see the smoky threads coming out of a very small cabin up ahead. This little cabin must have been new. It was not here in the spring.

Rosalie scoffed in irritation, in a way only Rosalie could, "Well THAT explains where my dinner has gone. I'm thirsty, I'm covered in pieces of mush, and my hair has twigs in it. Let's go northwest somewhere. Now."

Emmett laughed under his breath. I imagine he didn't want to laugh too loud; Rose could be difficult when her eyes were totally golden. When they were as black and cold as they were now, she required some special handling. A Rose explosion was never pleasant.

I agreed with Rose that running northwest seemed to be a good idea when I heard a small cat. This cat must be just a few days old. Not a cat at all. It had to be a kitten. Edward heard my thoughts and he surprised me by scrounging some humor out of his ever serious demeanor. "Well, we have scored one oversized, delicious elk for Emmett, and now the rest of us can satisfy ourselves on a kitten. Perfect."

Truly, I just wanted to take care of hunting and get back to the house so the rest could have their turn. I missed Esme. The kitten was an interesting anecdote, but it was time to go.

We had run for only a few seconds when all four of us instinctively stopped. We stood in silence.

The kitten was mewing even more pitifully than before. It was a dreadful sound…I had heard that sound before in the hospital. It was the distressing sound of giving up. It was one of those final sounds that doctors recognize and try to forget by putting them in invisible boxes and only opening them up when necessary.

No one said a word when I took a few steps in the direction of the dying sound. Vampire hearing could be distracting when you were on a simple mission and something was drawing you away from your task. Sometimes I ignored the distraction. I was fighting myself over this one.

"Carlisle, it's a flippin' cat! Let's go," Rosalie growled to herself. Her jaw was set in irritation.

"You go. I'm…I am…." I started to say, and Rose interrupted, "You are going to go check on a stupid cat."

Emmett pulled Rose toward the new trail and I ran to the new, little cabin. It was freezing. The kitten was probably dying of hyperthermia. The temperature seemed to be even colder than usual for this time of year. I had hoped that whoever had built this little cabin had understood the climate of this part of the mountain. I hoped that they had insulated well when building.

Edward started to follow Emmett and Rose who by now were half a mile away, but he had stopped and now stood at my side. I asked him silently if he heard anyone's thoughts from inside.

"There's not much, Carlisle. There's something, but I don't understand it. It's like….noise in my head. Whatever it is, it's slowing down."

I crept silently to the window and pulled the new, fresh sawn shutter open. I let Edward see for himself and I ran to the door. It was locked but I busted it open.

There were two people in their mid to late twenties lying on the floor of what looked like a small kitchen. Their faces were cyanotic and when I felt for a pulse, I knew I wouldn't be finding one.

I quickly surveyed the room for what could have caused their deaths. The kitchen seemed very new, and there seemed to be fairly new boxes strewn around with bits of Styrofoam packing sprinkled here and there.

"Carlisle, look," Edward whispered.

Edward was pulling a small, white booklet off the floor near the young woman's body. As we read the instructions to the gas stove and heater, both of us realized at the same time what had happened to these poor people. I hadn't seen carbon monoxide poisoning often in the ER. Most people never made it to the ER.

"Edward, look for the cat, and let's get out of here, now." The carbon monoxide couldn't harm us, but an explosion could, and I had no idea what went wrong with this stove.

"I don't see anything in here, and I can't smell much with that CO in here. I'll check the closet."

I ran in Edward's direction when I heard his gasp. "Carlisle, it's a baby! A newborn!"

Edward wasn't in a closet. It looked like a little nursery. He grabbed the baby and cradled it under his jacket as best he could and ran about three hundred yards away. I pulled the tablecloth off the table and followed him as fast as I could.

He stopped behind a huge, granite boulder that was at least forty feet high and sixty feet thick. It wasn't a boulder; it was a hill.

Edward kept the baby's body tucked in his jacket and pulled its face out. There was a pulse, but it was faint. There was a slight breathing sound, but this baby was clearly moderately hypothermic and very dehydrated. My fingers were leaving indentions in its skin. I tucked the cotton tablecloth as best as I could around the spaces in Edward's jacket and around the baby's head. "Run, Edward."

We had run for five minutes when we heard the explosion. We slowed our pace for a few seconds, looked at each other and continued the fastest run of our lives.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns all of the Twilight stuff…..

Carlisle's Point of View

Edward's phone had been ringing for twenty seconds, and he was right not to answer. I was sure it was Alice, and Edward needed to keep running with both hands around the baby.

As expected, my phone rang next. I didn't wait for Alice to talk. "Get Esme to put blankets and towels in the dryer on high. Put in a pair of Emmett's clean socks. Most importantly, Alice, you must get Jasper out of the house and tell him to hunt. Make him leave NOW."

Alice didn't waste time saying goodbye.

As the house was getting nearer, I spoke to Edward, even though I was pretty sure he knew my plan as well as I did.

"When we get there, bring the baby to the kitchen table and ask Esme to spread the table with three or four thicknesses of warmed blanket. Once the baby is there, Esme can help me warm the baby with more blankets and towels. Go in the garage and bring me a 23 gauge IV start kit and a liter of glucose/saline solution for the baby. Warm the fluid, Edward. You know how. And find a blow dryer in Alice's bathroom."

When we arrived at the house, everything was ready, and I knew Esme was going crazy with unanswered questions, but she was completely enmeshed in the crisis of getting this baby's body temperature up. She knew I would tell her everything at my first opportunity.

I wanted to improvise a patient warmer that post-op used everyday after procedures for hypothermic patients. Basically, it was a blanket placed around the patient with a blower continuously surrounding the person with warmed air.

Esme put the blow dryer on warm and carefully kept it under the towels and blankets and away from the baby's skin. She also removed the sodden diaper and threw it on the floor. The diaper was freezing cold. I thought I saw frost flake off of the outside cover of the disposable diaper.

Edward came in from the garage storage room with the warmed fluid and the IV start kit. The poor baby was so dehydrated that finding a usable vein would take a long time, so I decided to do a scalp IV.

Not only did this baby need fluids, this baby needed warmed fluids, and right away.

I asked Edward to put his hands on the outside blanket and secure the baby's position on the table while I washed my hands and put on gloves.

As I was shaving a little portion of the baby's scalp, I had my first opportunity to see this little human's face. I realized I didn't even know if it was a boy or a girl!

"Esme, is this a boy or a girl," I queried out loud.

"It's a little girl, Carlisle."

"Well, hello, pretty baby girl," I whispered to the baby. I was afraid to breathe on the poor little thing unnecessarily with my cool breath.

The IV went in smoothly, and that was fortunate, because I didn't want to have to do three or four attempts on her, and sometimes neonates were just hard IV sticks.

"Esme," I asked, "could you tie a knot in one of Emmett's socks and put it on her head, very gently, like a hat? She'll warm up so much faster with a hat on. The IV site is taped well, so don't worry about that right now; let's just get something on her head."

I tried to think of something more I could be doing for this little patient, and then I told Edward to go hunt quickly.

"I can go pick up any supplies you need, so you can hunt when I return," Edward responded.

Alice rushed into the room and said, "You don't need to get supplies, Edward. I think I've picked up everything we'll need for tonight. Go hunt, so Carlisle can go." Alice put several loaded shopping bags on the kitchen counter closest to the kitchen table. Her face was blank as she looked at the table.

I was still thirsty, but I knew I could use a few more minutes to examine this little girl. Her navel was still healing which told me she was probably less than three weeks old. She was lethargic, but that was expected.

Her face was pinking up, and her grasp reflex was normal. Her heart rate was almost 110, which would be near normal limits for a neonate. Her lungs were clear and her abdomen was soft and not distended. Other than her temperature, which was still low, things were looking better for this tiny one. Even her fingers were losing their grayish tint.

Edward handed me another 500 cc's of warmed fluid wrapped in a towel, and ran out the back door. When I watched him leave, I saw an orange glow from the direction where the cabin used to be.

I thought to myself, "Those poor people. The only thing that saved their baby from the carbon monoxide was a solid, closed door into the nursery. Those poor parents didn't even know what hit them."

Esme's Point of View

She is so beautiful and so, so tiny. I have no idea what has happened, and I want Carlisle to tell me everything, but all I feel right now is the need to keep this soft baby warm and safe and help Carlisle take care of her.

I finally heard Emmett and Rose come into the house, and Rose was laughing about Emmett getting mud all over his pants while cornering an elk. When they came into the kitchen, both of them looked too stunned to speak.

Emmett regained his ability to communicate first and stuttered, "Wh-what in the world is that? Whatever it is, it's awfully cute."

Rose was still unable to speak. She had seen a variety of unbelievable things in her life, but she certainly didn't expect to see a newborn baby wrapped in blankets and towels and Emmett's sock lying on the kitchen table with IV fluid dripping into its body.

Words failed her, but she slowly walked up and pointed to the blow dryer and softly asked me, "May I?"

I gladly gave Rose, my daughter that carried so much sadness and regret with her, the blow dryer and let her help. I reached inside the blankets and made sure that there was a blanket between my cold hand and the baby's tummy. There were so many towels and blankets on the baby that it took me a second to find her. I closed my eyes in the happiest moment of my life when I felt Carlisle's hand also softly resting on the baby's little stomach.

I knew Carlisle was extremely thirsty, but I could also feel him pushing away his thirst, as we looked at this tiny baby wearing Emmett's sock on her head. We didn't need to speak. I knew his mind as if it was my own, and he knew mine.

Edward's Point of View

I needed to hunt and get back. I knew Alice probably had bought out the store just getting things for one night. There would be diapers and formula, but she wouldn't know the medical equipment Carlisle might want or need.

I would call before I returned and get a list of things he wanted at the hospital. I didn't work there, but I was familiar with it, and I could "borrow" anything he wanted.

I wasn't even sure if the baby would be okay. I knew it was freezing cold outside and sometimes rewarming infants older than this one was difficult. With a newborn baby, I didn't know. Carlisle would do everything for it. I did know that.

I wondered if it was a boy or girl? I wondered what was going to happen to it. Did it have grandparents that would be looking for it?

I knew that it would take three seconds before my family would want this baby to stay with us. And what on Earth would happen then?

Carlisle's Point of View

I kept my hand on the baby's abdomen while I reached for my phone. It was Edward.

"Right now, things are looking stable, Edward. Her turgor pressure looks much better and without blood work, that is the best indication I have that the dehydration is resolving. I was going to have you bring an infant BP cuff," I explained to him.

"Alright, I'll be back as soon as possible. Are we okay on fluids," he asked.

"I think we're fine. I'm actually going to see if she'll take some formula and see how she does with that. Once her temperature is stable, we can discontinue the IV."

It only took Edward another two or three minutes for him to arrive with the BP cuff and some extra fluids, just in case. He walked in and said, "We'll watch her, Carlisle. Go, and when you come back you can fill the others in."

Alice's Point of View

Edward replaced Carlisle's hand on the baby and he looked at the IV site. I asked him what he was doing and he said that he was making sure the line was still in a vein and hadn't infiltrated.

"Does it look okay," I asked.

"Well it's been a long time since I've done this type of thing, but everything looks fine to me. Her skin looks much better and her respirations are steady. She doesn't seem to be in any distress."

As soon as his last syllable had left his mouth, the baby started opening her eyes and wiggling her head the slightest bit from left to right.

Edward smiled and said, "Well, that is a positive sign!" Rose looked at me, I looked at Esme, Emmett looked at the baby, and then the baby looked up and screamed the scream of a very hungry, very disappointed newborn.

The door opened and Jasper walked in holding both hands to his head. He didn't know why there was a screaming baby on the kitchen table, but he knew enough at the moment to ask, "Could someone please make it happy?"

Carlisle walked in with golden eyes replacing his dark ones and looked pleased to hear this baby wailing at the top of her lungs.

"That is very, very good," he stated as he wrapped the BP cuff around the baby's lower leg. Taking her blood pressure did NOT make the baby happier.

"I'm thinking that we should try giving this young lady some well-earned formula. I don't want to give her too much at first, but if she does well with a few ounces, we can DC the IV," Carlisle stated as he looked at Edward. Edward nodded his head. Apparently, he thought that was a pretty good plan. Edward had been to med school twice and had academic familiarity with medicine, but it was Carlisle that was the true doctor.

Alice had already cleaned the new baby bottles and was preparing a warm bottle of baby formula. She handed Esme a full bottle with "Hello Kitty" printed all over it.

The baby didn't look like she wanted to drink the bottle. Esme asked if she could pick up the baby to feed her. She glanced at the IV and looked uncomfortable.

"Esme," Carlisle suggested, "the baby's IV is nothing to be concerned about, but I think both of you would feel better if you fed her in a chair.

Esme looked relieved and Carlisle lifted the baby up off of the table, blankets and all, and nodded to Edward to gather the IV infusion.

Slowly, the two of them walked to the most comfortable chair in the living room, Esme's chair, where they handed the baby over to a very worried Esme. Carlisle stood next to Esme and placed his hand on her shoulder.

The baby seemed only a little interested in the bottle and Esme worried that the formula was the wrong temperature. Carlisle thought it was fine. The baby seemed to want to stretch around in her blankets and began to cry. Esme kept trying to talk to the baby, or sing to the baby, or do whatever the baby wanted so the baby would drink from the bottle.

Carlisle suggested a different position. Esme switched the baby to the other arm and the baby cried even louder.

Carlisle's Point of View

I wonder if the baby has some gastro problem that I've overlooked. I don't want to put in an NG tube. I really want her to take formula, but if she doesn't, I'll have to tube her and that would be hard on everyone, mostly the baby.

She could just have an allergy. Many babies are just allergic to certain formulas; we could try a soy formula, or a different brand of a milk-based one.

As the baby cried louder and louder, my gut told me that we should try the current formula for a few more minutes.

Rose asked if she could try. I certainly didn't want Esme to feel that she had failed, but Esme was most concerned about the baby and she wouldn't begrudge anyone from trying to help.

Rose sat on the couch which put her arms at a different level than Esme's chair, this meant the baby would be at a different level when she fed. Rose was hoping a different position would do the trick if colic was the problem. The baby quieted down when she was passed to Rose, but began screaming louder when the bottle touched her mouth.

Jasper had long retired to his room, probably to stop his emotion overload emanating from this nameless baby, and Emmett had backed ten feet away from the baby, and the louder the screaming was, the farther he backed away..

I asked Edward to bring the IV closer to my end of the couch and let me try. Rose brought the baby to me and I cradled the baby while Rose caressed her little feet. I looked into the baby's eyes and sang a song I didn't know that I still remembered.

The baby stopped crying just for a few seconds and I tickled her bottom lip with the bottle and she gulped at it. She was wide awake now. Once she had stopped crying long enough to taste the formula, she contently nursed at it until her eyes started to sag.

I was glad that she was taking fluids by mouth. Now I wanted to know if she could keep them down.

After putting her over my shoulder, she drifted further off to sleep. I wanted to make sure that she was stable so I decided to hold onto her for the time being.

What started out as an early evening hunting trip had turned into six vampires listening to every breath and heart beat of a very lucky baby with no parents, while one vampire hid in his room with what could best be described as a vampire migraine.


	3. Chapter 3

Carlisle's Point of View

I asked Edward to grab a notepad and write down the approximate time and volume of IV fluid that the baby had received, as well as the ounces of formula. That way, when we weighed her next diaper, I could get an indication of inputs and outputs. If she had been admitted to the hospital, they would be doing everything that we were, and her color looks so much better.

Edward asked me if there was anything I could foresee needing in the next couple of hours and I answered him with a thought, "I think we are fine for right now, son. Thank you."

While almost all of the others were assembled in the living room, I knew that now would be as good a time as any to answer their questions. I didn't know much more than they did, but we had to talk about this. Tonight affected everyone.

I began, "While we are all here, except for Jasper, I think I should go over the information we have currently. During our hunting trip, Edward and I investigated a small cabin three ridges over. We found two dead adults, one male and one female, and we suspect they died of carbon monoxide poisoning. Edward opened a closed door and there was this young lady who was very, very cold and dehydrated. You must have heard the explosion nearby, and luckily, the three of us made it here."

Esme let out a sorrowful sigh and held her hand to her collarbone and looked at the white carpet underneath her feet and then she glanced up and focused on the tiny bundle on my shoulder.

I waited a bit before I continued, "The cabin seemed to be new construction. Does anyone remember seeing it in the last trips to that area? My guess is that they attempted to install a gas burner and stove and installed it incorrectly. Since CO is odorless and tasteless, they really had no idea what was happening. The baby was spared due to her location in another room, but even being separated wouldn't have saved her from hypothermia. She probably would have survived another ten or fifteen minutes, and I'm basing that on her temperature when we found her."

Rosalie looked at Emmett and then at me. "If her parents are gone, I think we should keep her and raise her. She has no one. This could be destiny…fate."

I had expected that. Someone was going to say that, but I didn't know which one would do it first.

"Before we even cross that bridge, there are some things that I would…we would…need to know conclusively. First, we don't know for sure that those were her parents, even though I would assume that they were. Secondly, there could be other relatives that care for and love this baby. I couldn't do anything along the lines of adoption until we know more facts. Thirdly, even if we determine that she _is_ alone in the world, we would have to face the reality that we are seven vampires and she is a human with human blood circulating through her system."

Alice suddenly stared off into space and seemed to focus on the light coming off of a floor lamp to her left. Edward squinted at her with a question on his face and Alice refocused her attention on the baby.

"Alice," I asked, "did you see something?"

"I, uh, saw…um…I saw the baby sitting in a high chair," Alice choked out, smoothing her voice by the last word in her sentence.

Edward crossed his arms and continued to stare at Alice and uncrossed his arms that had been folded on his chest, and mouthed the words, "What are you doing?"

Alice excused herself and said she was going to find Jasper and see if he thought he should come downstairs.

Rosalie stood up and walked over to the couch near me and sat down. "Carlisle, if it's best that we gather more facts, could we start now? Emmett and I could go to the Hall of Records and look at the Recorder's Office and see about deeds and real estate transfers for the area of the cabin. Jasper could go see Mr. Jenks and persuade him to dig for information. He probably even has a private detective that could work on that."

Jasper walked in and stood about twenty feet away, and nodded his head and said, "Mr. Jenks has become…a great friend… of mine and is always…anxious…to help me out. I can call his assistant and get an appointment right quick!"

Esme frowned and replied, "Jasper, I've met that man twice, and I will not have you terrifying him on our account."

"Esme, I promise that I will be a gentleman. I just like my business contacts to be sure of their…allegiance…to our business interests," Jasper explained with a smile that was sure to melt Esme's concerns away.

I looked down at the baby and stated, "Jasper, is being around this baby hard for you? Do you have any difficulties at all with her scent? I'm counting on you being completely forthright. None of us would be upset with any yes answers to my questions. You are a member of this family, and families watch out for each other."

Jasper took a deep breath, deeper than I have ever seen him take, and he said, "I can't smell anything that causes me discomfort. I mean, I can hear her heart beating, but I feel…nothing."

He got up and stood about five feet away from me, and took another deep breath, and this time, Edward and Emmett were standing on his side and slightly in front of him.

He took another deep breath, and said, "Nothing. I mean, I can smell that she's human, but other than that disgusting baby formula on your shoulder, I don't smell anything. No bloodlust or any of the precursors to that."

Edward spoke up, "That's helpful, but you also just hunted. Do you think that has something to do with it?"

"I don't know," Jasper contemplated, "but I usually feel some sort of catch in my throat when I'm around humans, regardless of when I've hunted."

"Hmm," I wondered out loud, "You really feel no thirst stimulated by this baby, none at all? Alice, do you see anything related to Jasper and the baby?"

"Carlisle, you know that my visions are related to the decisions that are made. I can be wrong, or I can be right. Sometimes, I just don't know," Alice whispered, although we could all hear her as if she was speaking at regular volume. "I do know that Jasper is honest about his weaknesses, and I do believe his answers."

I decided that we should at least find out some information about the builders of the cabin. Jasper would contact Mr. Jenks, and Rose and Emmett would make inquiries with the County Recorder's office.

Alice let out a quiet, gleeful, squeaky sound, and flew upstairs. I took the baby's pulse one more time and was satisfied with it. Esme walked over, sat on the couch and held my hand after kissing my cheek. Rose and Emmett started making a schedule for their day, and Edward raced up the stairs at vampire speed.

Alice's Point of View

I needed something to occupy my mind and color-coding my shoes seemed like a fruitful use of my mind. I felt Edward enter my room and started silently reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in Portuguese.

"Alice, you are blocking me, and I want to know why. I want to know why _this instant_!"

Edward had a very effective growl, and I'm sure that he may have used it hundreds of times in other situations, but it had negligible effect on me. My own growl could be terrifying in its own right.

I shoved a navy pair of rhinestone Prada's back into their box and continued translating.

"Alice, so help me, I'm losing my patience by the second! Tell me why you are blocking me."

I turned and faced him off. I mustered my most furious face, and spoke slowly, "Edward, have you ever thought, even for one tiny second, that I would occasionally like to hold a few secrets about my own life, and Jasper's, and not have it shared?"

Edward's expression changed from furious to surprised to sheepish. He stammered, "I…I am not accustomed to you blocking me unless something very untoward was going to happen. I…I'm sorry. I know that, in the past, you only have blocked me when you were hiding something of great importance."

"Edward, I AM blocking something of great importance, it's just that it doesn't concern you….It's private. Sometimes it's hard to live with a mind reader, you know," Alice said with quiet forgiveness in her voice.

"Uh, you have a right to your privacy, and I will commit to occupying myself mentally in order to afford you that. I'm sorry for raising my voice, Alice. I really will try to avoid mining your thoughts."

"Edward, you are a gentleman. Thank you," I said and winked at Edward and I returned to my shoe organizing.

Edward turned gracefully and shut the door behind him.

I felt terrible for lying to him, but I had to find a way to guilt him away reading my mind. My visions needed to stay private for the time being. I had to hold them in, and I would do anything to manage that, even with a mind-reading, brooding brother.

Emmett's Point of View

I found myself smirking, and asked Carlisle, "Hey, what do we call the squirt?"

Carlisle chuckled, and said, "I think we should commit to calling her "the baby" or "she."

That didn't seem right. I suddenly had the perfect name!

"Carlisle, I say we call her "Kitty!"

Carlisle laughed cautiously so he didn't wake the baby. "Emmett, I think we should stick with "the baby" for now.


	4. Chapter 4

Edward's Point of View

After a few hours, Carlisle finally decided that the baby looked stable enough to remove the IV and he was also comfortable with her ability to keep an appropriate body temperature.

Esme and Rosalie were especially excited about that. I think the IV scared both of them more than it should. It did make the baby look sick and frail, but according to her screaming capacity, this baby _wasn't_ very sick or frail. It had been through a lot, of course, but it had rebounded quickly.

I needed to be careful about referring to the baby as "it." I had referred to her as "it" three or four times out loud, and even Carlisle looked at me with wrinkled eyebrows. She was cute and all, and definitely not an "it" but she was also red and wrinkly and…well…small. There was no forgetting that there was a newborn in the house. The high-pitched, ear shattering crying allowed none of us to forget she was around.

"Edward," asked Carlisle, "would you please go in the store room and grab a pair of gloves and a roll of tape and a few gauze pads?"

"Right away," I murmured.

Carlisle carried the sleeping baby and I carried the IV bag with the tubing trailing behind Carlisle.

Esme and Rose and I watched over the baby on the kitchen table while Carlisle re-washed his hands.

Rose looked concerned and asked if this would hurt. Carlisle chuckled and said, "She's asleep and even if she was awake, the only thing that would make her mad was being held down. So, to answer your question, Rose, this won't hurt at all."

Carlisle sent a thought my way, and I knew he wanted me to ask Rose and Emmett to stand near the door. Pulling out the IV catheter would produce a small amount of venous blood and he didn't want Jasper to be overwhelmed by the scent. It was also a bit of a test.

I agreed with him and I thought it was fair to let everyone know that there would be a scant amount of blood on the gauze pad.

With extremely quick hands, Carlisle removed the sticky tape from her small head, and pulled out the tiny catheter and held a piece of gauze to the site. I carried the used tubing and the spent IV bag out to the garage sink and filled it with bleach and water. I'd discard it in the trash the next time I had a chance.

When I returned, there was a little piece of tape holding the gauze in place. Alice came down and rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips. "I knew I should have been down here. Carlisle, look at that ugly, white gauze. You should have used these! I bought them especially for this. White gauze…humiliating!"

Alice was holding out a box of Band-Aids that were pink and decorated with little polka dots and bows. "There is _no_ reason for her to look like she has toilet paper on her head! Let's use one of these!"

I knew that Carlisle wouldn't exchange the gauze pad for a Band-Aid, but he did allow Alice to put the pink Band-Aid on top of the gauze. "Well, she tsked, "that isn't as perfect as it could have been, but at least it looks a little bit better. Clearly, _I_ need to be in charge of the owies around here."

I wasn't sure, but I thought I saw Carlisle rolling his eyes when Alice was looking away.

Esme looked a lot more relaxed and she took Carlisle's hand and guided him to the couch. She whispered, "Could I try again, Carlisle?"

Wordlessly, Carlisle passed the little package over to Esme. I was amazed at how much more relaxed Esme looked holding the baby this time. Carlisle gathered a few corners of the blanket around the baby while he watched Esme with a warm smile.

"I think," Carlisle stated, "that we should probably try our luck with another bottle when she wakes up."

We all just watched her sleep. Esme, Rose and Carlisle looked like they were studying her little features, Alice was holding Jasper's hand and asking him if he was still okay, and Emmett was splitting his time between watching Rose and Jasper.

The good thoughts rolling out of everyone's minds were so focused and so…so…unanimously good. I was purposely trying to avoid Alice's thoughts as much as possible because my promise to her was my word. She deserved her privacy. She was a very good sister.

About five minutes later, the little one screwed up her little face and mustered up quite an angry little face. She looked almost funny as she molded her tiny eyes, nose and mouth into this portrait of infant fury.

Rose flew to the kitchen and came back moments later with a warm bottle and another baby blanket. She folded the blanket and put it on Esme's shoulder and handed her the bottle.

Esme tried to hide her disappointment when the baby continued screaming, despite being presented with a warm bottle. She finally held the baby's face up against her cheek and said, "Little one, I'm trying to make you happy. I'm sorry you are so sad. You are a good little baby girl. Such a good little girl." She then gave the baby quick little kisses and tried once more with the bottle.

The loud, little pink package made a snorting sound that made Emmett and I laugh, and then the high pitched wailing began anew. I thought to myself, "How long can she scream like that without inhaling?"

I knew it was improbable that such a little baby could be furious in the way an older person could be, but to watch her from across the room, she did remind me of some high school students that I had encountered over the decades. If she continued at this rate, she would scream herself into exhaustion.

I could tell that Carlisle was feeling bad for Esme. More than anything, she was a natural mother and he knew that she doubted all that she knew about herself right now.

"Esme, love, let's try something and see how we do," Carlisle whispered. "I'm wondering if she might have a tiny bit of colic, and sometimes it's just a matter of finding a position that relieves the pressure on her tummy."

The baby screamed so loud as he finished his sentence that it was almost like she was saying, "Hooray! You figured it out!"

He stood up with the baby and draped her, tummy down, over his forearm, with his hand supporting her little head and her legs straddling his upper arm. The baby instantly stopped her screeching and inhaled loudly and made some sort of hiccupping sound.

Esme and the rest of us were grateful that the shrieking had ceased. I could hear the relief in everyone's thoughts. She was definitely a cute baby, but she was also unbelievably loud!

Carlisle walked slowly around the room and seemed to be giving her a few minutes to recover some energy after all of that yelling.

"Edward," he asked, "I'm curious. Can you tell us what she is thinking? Do you know?"

"You know, other than what all of you can hear when she is so mad, I really can't get any sense of what she is thinking. I've had some luck with other older babies that I've been around on occasion, but for some reason, I'm not getting much at all."

"Interesting," was all Carlisle said.

He walked over to the couch and sat down and held the tight, little pink bundle in front of him with both hands and leaned forward, and whispered, "Okay, Missy. We are going to try this again."

Carlisle scooted in closer to Esme, and handed her the tiny little girl.

Rose passed her the bottle and Esme tickled her little lips with the bottle's silicone nipple.

The baby seemed interested for a second of two, and then she snapped her mouth closed and began to look like she was definitely warming up for a repeat screaming session.

I could feel Esme's frustration with herself wafting throughout the room, and she tentatively passed the infant back to Carlisle. "I think she's more comfortable with someone else, Carlisle."

I knew that Carlisle was afraid of Esme feeling this way. He encouraged her to try again, but she insisted that he hold the baby.

"It's fine, Carlisle. Babies are hard to figure out sometimes. It's really fine, Carlisle," she acknowledged in her lovely, charming voice.

Carlisle was so lucky to have Esme. He was so incredibly in love with her. They were both so good and they deserved that kind of adoring love.

He pulled the infant back to his arms and reached for the bottle with his free hand. The baby didn't scream. She didn't make a sound. After all of that earsplitting bawling, I figured she probably didn't have any more energy to do anything.

Her breathing settled into a slow pattern where her whole body seemed to feel the inhalation of her air.

When she seemed blissfully relaxed, Carlisle tried to entice her into drinking from the bottle. On the third attempt, she took to it like a nice, quiet, blissfully silent baby.

After she was done, Carlisle had me record the four ounces she had taken in the notebook on the kitchen counter. As I was writing, I heard a tremendous sound coming from the living room. I ducked my head in and saw Carlisle patting the baby's back and smiling. "Now that was a very unladylike belch, Missy."

~*~*~*~*~*~*

A few hours later, Jasper had dressed for his appointment with Mr. Jenks, and Alice dashed down the stairs to join him. I noticed that Alice's handbag looked stuffed. I knew right away what it was stuffed with.

I winked at her and teased, "Do you think you brought enough cash, Alice?"

She smirked back without missing a beat. "This is for the lingerie store, Brother. The money for Jenks is in the trunk."

I didn't know if she was serious or not.

Rose and Emmett were conversing quietly with Carlisle and writing down some questions that might be important to ask at the county office.

The couch held Carlisle and Esme sitting close and holding the baby girl. Esme's head was resting on Carlisle's shoulder and they both seemed to be content in the silence.

How long that silence would last, I had NO idea.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Esme's Point of View

The kids had been gone for almost the whole day and they hadn't called. I didn't know if that was good or bad. They were all smart, though, and they know they had to ask their questions wisely and carefully.

They needed to dig for information about strangers without anyone figuring out that they were digging for information about strangers.

Rose and Emmett came first and said that they had requested some good information and the clerk said it would be printed off and available for the next day. They both sat on a pair of tailored, heavy tweed floor cushions and leaned into each other silently. Their thoughts told me that they wanted tomorrow's information to lead to us keeping this baby with us.

At about nine o'clock at night, Jasper and Alice came back and said that Mr. Jenks was quite sure he would be able to do a background search and provide us with helpful information as soon as possible. He had assured Jasper that it was his number one priority. I pulled Alice aside and asked how Mr. Jenks was doing after the visit.

Alice chuckled and said that Jasper was a perfect gentleman and that Jasper shouldn't be blamed for any…continuing memories… that Mr. Jenks may carry around with him.

I stared Alice down, and she realized I wanted a more definitive answer. "Esme, Jasper was as non-threatening to this human as he could possibly be."

That still wasn't as definitive as I needed, so I spelled it out clearly, "Alice, did Jasper cause any terror to swallow up that poor man?"

"Esme," Alice grinned, "Mr. Jenks is very much committed to our needs and continues to be alive and well and happy and extremely non-terrified. Jasper just has a way of _motivating _Mr. Jenks."

I thought that maybe I should have accompanied those two. They were representing me, and I didn't want to be an accomplice to anything unacceptable.

Alice walked into the family room and I heard the shriek I had been waiting for. Here it goes, I thought to myself.

Alice had no doubt seen that we had placed the baby into a large, antique mahogany drawer from Carlisle's study. It was lined with clean silk sheets resting on top of a few layers of folded, cashmere blankets.

For a brief moment, Alice was speechless.

And then, Alice was **not** speechless.

"I CAN NOT EVEN BELIEVE THAT YOU HAVE PUT THAT BEAUTIFUL BABY INTO A…A…A…DRAWER!"

If the baby hadn't been sleeping soundly, I was sure that Alice would have raised her voice into full scream.

"IT'S AS IF SHE WAS FOUND BY _TRANSIENTS_ IN A BUS STATION! A _DRAWER_! YOU HAVE PUT THIS BEAUTIFUL ANGEL IN A _DRAWER_!"

She looked at Jasper who was whiter than normal, and said, "Get Emmett's Jeep. We have to go to Port Angeles right now!"

Jasper answered, "Alice, I don't think anything will be open now. We can go first thing in the morning."

Alice looked at Jasper with a look of incredulity.

"Then, _Jasper_, we will drive to Seattle and find some place that _might be_ open. If there's nothing open in Seattle, then we will fly to Hawaii and find some nice baby boutique that _is_ open."

At that point, Alice began mumbling rapidly, almost too fast for me to understand. I did pick out the word "fools" and then "barbarians" followed by "incredible" and then "unbelievable."

She pushed Jasper out of the door, and then turned back to those of us still in the house, "We might be a while. _Please resist_ the urge to bathe her in the dishwasher or let her play in the **trashcans**!"

None of us dared to laugh until we couldn't hear Emmett's Jeep anymore.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N Please forgive me for taking so long to update. My brother died unexpectedly early in January, and that knocked all of us for the proverbial loop. Please accept my apologies!

Carlisle's Point of View

None of us knew exactly when Alice and Jasper would return; when Alice is on a mission, she's like a bulldog, and when she's mad, it's even worse.

Alice was definitely on a mission while being mad at us, so that combination led us to think that her return was unpredictable at best.

Esme commented that Alice's anger would be tempered by her desire to get the baby out of the drawer quickly and into a proper crib of her selection.

Alice needn't have been so crazed. The little girl was held most of the time, and only slept in the makeshift "crib" for a few moments. We hoped that she might be able to see that, but we didn't dare call her about it and try to reason with her on a cell phone.

Sure enough, Alice and Jasper returned from Seattle in about four hours. It didn't take them long to find a good baby store that had a manager that could be gently "persuaded" by Jasper and Alice to stay open late while they shopped.

The difficult part was finding a way of transporting the purchases back to Forks immediately. The manager promised to ship them immediately the next day, but Alice couldn't bear to wait ten or twelve hours.

The manager had _agreed_ (using Jasper's word) to allow the two of them to borrow the store's delivery truck as a courtesy. I could see from the expression on Esme's face that she was worried that they had strong-armed the manager. I made a note to conference with Jasper and Alice about that in the very near future. We are, after all, the "good guys" and I couldn't abide by other good citizens being unduly upset or frightened by members of my own family.

Alice triumphantly entered the living room caring several beautiful paper shopping bags, and I knew that those were tprobably the "minor, impulse purchases." Jasper signaled to Emmett that his assistance could be used unloading the delivery truck. The weight of the boxes was of course, insignificant, but they were very large, unwieldy cartons and Jasper needed the help to preserve Esme's antiques that lined the hallways.

There were _two_ cribs that Alice and Jasper selected. They were different in style, but that wasn't the reason that there were two. It wasn't a case of not being able to decide which one to get. Alice just wanted to have one placed upstairs in one of the spare bedrooms, and one downstairs. I'm sure she figured that that would allow us to always have an eye on the baby.

Rosalie and Esme took charge of laundering all of the new baby bedding and getting the cribs made up, while I decided that I could hold the young lady. It was an incredible to feel her slow, deep breathing and her now healthy, strong heartbeat.

The next day, Jasper received a phone call from his friend, Mr. Jenks. Jasper agreed to meet him in his office to discuss what he had discovered about the baby's parents. Several of us were concerned when the weather report was predicting a sunny day on the Olympic Peninsula, but the clouds cooperated graciously and Jasper was able to make the trip without postponing it, and without the danger of his skin sparkling in front of a myriad of astonished humans.

Jasper's Point of View

As I drove to his office, I realized that I _do_ feel a bit guilty for giving Mr. Jenks cause to worry every time I contact him. I imagine that some habits are hard to break, and because of the unique arrangements that I need Mr. Jenks to "supervise" for the family I love, I do go overboard a little bit.

Today, I hope he notices my appreciation in the large manilla envelope that I have brought. A one hundred percent tip should be met with a smile on his red, moist, chubby face!

"Master Jasper, how are you today? It's always a special pleasure to assist you," Mr. Jenks gushed as he spoke too quickly.

"Mr. Jenks, I am certainly indebted to you for your speed on this project. My family is always so satisfied with your work," I drawled in my most genuine attempt at humane reassurance. I saw that his breathing slowed down noticeably and a reflexive smile passed through him for a second or two.

"Well, um, that's certainly, we should... say... that I'm very…yes. Thank you, Mr. Jasper" he murmured as he passed me a two inch binder full of carefully hole-punched documents. "You'll notice that there are original, certified copies of some documents, not hole-punched, in the Tyvek envelope inside the binder. I made sure that the envelope is waterproof and safe from tearing or ripping for your convenience. I tried to think of everything."

"Mr. Jenks, thank you for your continued support of my family's concerns. You are appreciated," and with that, I handed him _my_ manilla envelope full of bills with Mr. Jenks' favorite American patriot on them: Benjamin Franklin.

As I left the office, I couldn't help but enjoy the quiet, non-terrified emotions flowing from the lawyer. Carlisle would be happy, and so would Esme. I wouldn't make a habit of being such a kissy-huggy guy, of course, but there were some mutual benefits to leaving a person able to function after one of my business meetings!

I wanted to peak into the binder overflowing with papers and certificates, but I knew that that could wait for the whole family. Once I'm home, we can sit together and review what Mr. Jenks was able to dig up.


	6. Chapter 6

Edward's Point of View

When Jasper and Alice returned with the documents found by Mr. Jenks, the family was seated in the living room. It was extraordinarily quiet and the baby's tiny head was resting on Carlisle's silk sweater covered shoulder.

There were so many of their thoughts mixing around in my head that I was starting to get fatigued from sorting and classifying them.

Carlisle was feeling so content and exhilarated that the baby was doing well and that thought was blasting through my head like a locomotive from my childhood.

Alice, Rose, Emmett, and Esme were thinking about what it would be like to have a small human in our family, loving us and needing us and making us laugh. Alice was thinking about whether soft cotton, silk or satin would be more pleasing to her skin.

Jasper was hoping that he would never develop a craving for the crimson treasure that flowed through the little one's veins. He knew that she needed it more than he did.

Alice was occasionally shielding her thoughts from me by alphabetizing haute couture designers by last name.

Jasper looked up at everyone and produced the heavy envelope and the binder from Mr. Jenks. "There were apparently many documents obtained by Jenks. I haven't opened them. I thought it would be better if we went through them as a family."

Carlisle smiled and said, "I think that's a perfect way to do it. Jasper, let's start with the binder."

Jasper opened up to the first document that was enclosed by a heavy duty sheet protector. "First we have a birth certificate of Michelle Stratham, born 1989, at the US Army Base in Frankfurt, Germany."

He flipped to the next documents, which were copies of death certificates for Michelle Stratham's parents. "Apparently, they died overseas when Michelle was about 16."

Rose calculated this and said, "Well, if Michelle was the mother, than we know there are no maternal grandparents." All of us heard the hopeful flavor painted around her comment.

Jasper continued on. "Next we have the birth certificate of Nathan Swan, born 1988, in Bend, Oregon. No father listed on birth certificate, mother is Pearl Dane, of Bend Oregon. In addition, there is an enlistment record for the US Army with a hardship discharge received by him but the record is incomplete. There's a note attached from Jenk's saying that this is very unusual for military records to be sketchy about discharge information. Typically there are a number of forwarding addresses and next of kin information that the government requires in the file, and there is nothing."

Emmett added, "When we were looking at the county clerk's office, we found some gaps, too. There was a title and deed for the parcel where the cabin was built, and it listed Nathan Swan, but there were no former addresses listed anywhere in the records. These people must have lived somewhere between being born and buying that land. And it's interesting that Michelle wasn't anywhere on these documents."

Carlisle inquired, "Is there anything else in the binder? Any other documents?"

The only other documents are searches done for social security numbers and next of kin, and there was nothing available, and the birth certificate that Jenks thought belonged to our baby. I mean, the baby."

"Read it, Jasper," Alice chimed.

"It says 'Isabella Stratham Swan' born nine days ago, Nathan named as father, Michelle named as mother. There is a note on from Jenks saying that his connections in state and federal investigation organizations, as well as other investigators, could find no living relatives on the Stratham side or the Swan side."

The room was quiet. The newborn breathed deeply in her sleep and passed the tiniest amount of gas. It was difficult for everyone to maintain a straight face. "Well, said Rose, "that is something that these walls haven't heard before."

"No teasing this baby," warned Alice, "because she just experienced a little human moment. I'm sure we will witness more of them. Babies just do that."

Carlisle patted the sleeping bundle with his gentle hand and began, "It appears that this is what we know. She is nine days old, we can assume that her parents are dead, as are her maternal grandparents and there doesn't appear to be any other relatives according to Mr. Jenks and his legitimate and possibly illegitimate sources. Our choices are to hand the baby to the county authorities, which will result in foster care and possible adoption. Or…"

Rose interrupted vehemently, "Carlisle, there is no reason to start down that road. She is meant to be with us. We want her and we can give her a wonderful family and…."

"Rose, please let me finish," Carlisle interjected patiently and gently. "We can involve the county authorities, or we can decide to be her family. As you know, that has several unusual aspects to it."

Esme rested her head on Carlisle's shoulder and patted the baby girl's little back and kissed Carlisle's neck. She spoke softly, "I think that we could give her so much. It would be unusual, but we could do it. There would be ways to keep everything as normal as possible and provide her with a loving home. Even the way we live now is unusual and yet we have managed to do it. I have faith in us."

Rose wholeheartedly agreed and even Emmett grinned at the pink little baby. It was easy to predict how they would vote. Alice was a dead giveaway as well. Jasper kissed Alice's head.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing! Someone had to be logical before my family made the mistake of the century. "I need to speak. We obviously want what's best for this child. All of us. But before we sign up for the PTA , I think we should remember that we are immortal, will never age, and our diet is meant to be human blood, which just happens to be pumping through her. We are vampires! Have all of you delusional people lost your minds?"

Everyone began to talk at once and Carlisle quieted everyone with his strong, but gentle voice. "You must stop before you wake her. Edward, you are obligated to share your feelings and insights, and we are obligated to listen. Everyone here has an obligation to do so."

The room quieted and I continued, even though I distinctly felt the glares and heard the upset thoughts of my family. "I would like to know that we are doing the right thing. What do we tell her when she notices we aren't changing and she is? What do we tell her when she notices that she is the only one at the dinner table eating? She is human, and what will happen to us when she dies? Can you imagine the sadness after we have reared her? Can we condemn her to our life of constant moving and constant charades? Can we just…"

I stopped when he heard Alice repeating the _Our Father _in Punjabi. I glared at Alice when I knew she was purposely blocking my thoughts. In my un-beating heart, I knew it had nothing to do with private thoughts between her and Jasper.

She smiled at me quickly and leaned into Jasper. Jasper focused his eyes on me and I felt distinctly more open-minded and more relaxed.

Carlisle shifted the baby to his other shoulder. "Edward brings up critical concerns. Comments?"

Rose looked as if she was trying to give the best response of her life. "Of course our situation is unique. We move frequently because we must not cause suspicion. Granted. I understand that. But she will be raised in our family and she will be loved and when she is old enough to understand, we can sit her down and explain that we are different. We just need to know when the very best time for that is, so she can understand about our special secret. I think that…there are a lot more good reasons for keeping her than there are bad reasons. I…want her to stay with us." Rose lowered her eyes and looked at her crossed hands. I hadn't seen her look so focused or quietly desperate ever before.

Emmett wrapped his giant arm around his wife, and said, "I'm with Rose." Alice and Jasper concurred. Esme laid her head on Carlisle's chest, next to the baby and said, "I think it would take planning and constant care, but I think we could raise her in our family and we all could be very happy."

I was incredulous at what I was hearing! "I don't think this little experiment is fair to her, or to Jasper, for instance. This is like a family of wolves deciding to raise a bunny!"

Carlisle looked at Jasper again. "Jasper, what are you thinking?"

Jasper looked up at the ceiling and said, "I have purposely tried to elicit some sort of lust for her blood. I've even been trying to think of situations that usually get my thirst going. I've imagined her bleeding in front of me, imagined her and I alone in the house when I am thirsty, and I'm getting nothing. There is always some level of difficulty when I'm around a human, no matter how long it's been since I've hunted them. I've been trying to test myself tonight. I wanted to know if I could start longing for her blood. There's nothing. I've never experienced completely nothing before with a human. Ever."

I countered with, "I'm glad that you've passed your test, Jasper, but what about if there's an accident and things change? What if you just can't help yourself?"

Jasper was silent for a few moments. "All I can say is that there is nothing now, and I've always felt some hunger, even when I have met up with a smaller baby and I had just fed. In this instance, for the first time since I was born, I feel nothing. I don't know if that could change. This lack of blood temptation is completely new for me."

At that precise moment, the baby opened her tiny eyes and made some soft little sounds and turned her head and closed her eyes again.

Carlisle looked around the room and said, "It appears that this is the situation so far. An apparently orphaned newborn with no living immediate relatives, that we could find at least, has found some lodging with us. A majority of our family feels that we can share our home with her and Edward has brought up some undeniable aspects of our life that we cannot ignore. One option is to continue to care for her, at least for the next few days. The other option is to approach the county and say that we found her abandoned. That would result in foster care and/or adoption. Thoughts?"

While I am a mind reader, it didn't take one to know how everyone would feel. They all said that we should keep her. When they looked at me suspiciously, all I said was, "I think we should contact the county and let her be with humans. We can always sneak a look now and again and see how she is doing."

Carlisle looked at me with compassion and murmured softly, "I'm sorry, Edward, but it appears you are outvoted."

I knew that if she stayed two days, she would stay a lifetime. They were already attached. She was staying. Everyone knew it. Welcome to the family, Isabella.


	7. Chapter 7

I don't own any of these wonderful characters. Stephanie Meyer owns them.

Carlisle's Point of View

The next morning, Esme tried to lay the baby in the downstairs crib several times, but as soon as she made any small infant noise or moved a tiny toe or finger, Alice or Rose used it as an excuse to pick her up and hold her closely and pat her baby skin and kiss her tiny head.

I wanted the baby to become accustomed to sleeping in her upstairs or downstairs crib, but with Alice and Rose around, I wondered if the baby would ever spend ten uninterrupted minutes in it.

Emmett beamed every time Rosalie smiled and so did Jasper when Alice laughed at some funny facial expression the baby made. Every once in a while, Alice would stare out into space and then a satisfied smile would creep across her face. The house had never felt so full of quiet excitement and love.

After Bella had been needlessly picked up for the fourth time in two hours, I quietly called a meeting in the living room. "I am enjoying the baby as much as any of you, but obviously I have to set some boundaries or this child will have us all wrapped around her little finger by the time she's one. So, I expect you to allow to wait until she's completely awake with no sign of drifting back to sleep **before** you trip over each other to pick her up. That's the first thing I need to say. The second thing is that I'd like Jasper to contact Mr. Jenks about creating some adoption papers describing a private adoption for our young lady. We'll keep the birth date listed on the original birth certificate, but we'll need adoption for future travel, identification, just for general preparedness."

At first, they looked like I had scolded them and I thought I saw the beginning of a pout form on Alice's face, but they all perked up (except for Edward) when I mentioned the need for adoption papers from Mr. Jenks.

At that moment the baby began to cry in earnest in Rose's arms. I watched as Rose stood up and walked slowly around the room, singing a lovely, soothing song. Bella continue to scream until her face was ruby-colored and her jugular veins and soft spot on her scull were pulsating.

Esme stood up to prepare a fresh bottle and Jasper retreated upstairs with vampire speed. He looked as if he was being tortured by Bella's screaming.

Esme gently took her from Rose and sat next to me. We both thought that the baby was screaming from hunger. It had been almost three hours since her last bottle, but Bella would have nothing to do with any of it. Every time Esme even touched Bella's lips with the bottle, she drew her legs up close to her body and arched her back and cried even louder.

"Carlisle," fretted Esme, "could something be wrong? She should be hungry, shouldn't she?"

"She should be at least a bit hungry. She may just be working off some nervous stimulation. Hand her to me and I'll have a look," I responded.

From the way Bella was reacting, I was a tiny bit worried that something actually might be causing her pain. She could have any number of intestinal problems that were semi-common with newborns. I knew nothing of her mother's prenatal history. Several congenital or genetic maladies came to mind that concerned me as well.

As soon as Esme passed her to me, Bella took a huge gulp of air, sobbed for a few heartbeats, and exhaled deeply and noisily. I hadn't expected that, but I still examined her abdomen and felt for my stethoscope on the sofa table behind me and listened to her chest and abdomen.

I started thinking out loud, "Right now, I can't find anything grossly wrong, but if she continues with the screaming I should probably start looking at some tests to rule out a reflux or gastro anomaly. I might need a barium swallow or other studies to see if there are any surprises. I certainly don't want to do those if we can avoid it; that's a lot of radiation."

Edward commented with a semi-sullen air, "She has certainly calmed herself down. She flits from one extreme to another."

The baby had, indeed, stopped screaming. Esme reached for her and touched her tiny lips with the bottle's nipple. Within a few seconds, the baby was back to screaming even louder.

"Love, can you hold her? She seems to have formed a preference for you, and it looks so painful when she gets so rigid and screams," Esme pleaded.

Once the little one was back in my arms, she hiccupped from all the air she had swallowed and sobbed a few times and was quiet again. I silently signaled for the bottle and she took it with gusto.

"Carlisle," Esme laughed, "I think you win the award for chief baby tamer. Thank goodness you can make her do that. I didn't know what to do next." She scooted in closer to me and I could smell her honey-like fragrance and feelings of bliss crept all over me again.

Edward quietly stood up and I thought I heard him mutter "delusional" and "insane" and make his way up to his room. My son worries. He's a fine young man. He is worried for this child. He's honorable, that's why.

*~*~*~*~*~*

A week later….

"Emmett, when you are done backing the cars out of the garage, please help your brothers by pulling those crates in the garage and taking the contents upstairs to the blue room," I asked.

"Sure, Carlisle," Emmett good-naturedly replied.

Esme and I were walking along the driveway and watching Bella's face as her eyes closed in the pale pink stroller. This was the "house stroller" as Alice referred to it. Alice had also purchased a stroller for each of our vehicles. I can only imagine the items that Alice would purchase for this child. I made a mental note to talk with her at some point about the misfortunes associated with spoiled children.

Jasper and Emmett made short work of the heavy wooden crates and numerous cardboard cartons and took the items upstairs. They both walked over to ask about the uncrated item that took up a good deal of floor space in the garage. "Carlisle," began Emmett, is that what I think it is?"

"What do you think it is, son?" I chuckled.

"Well, after seeing the rest of the stuff, I think that it's an x-ray machine," he answered.

"Yes, that's what it is, a portable, digital x-ray machine. We may never use it, but if time was of the essence, we have access to one."

Both Emmett and Jasper smiled. "You know, Carlisle, most new parents buy high chairs and blankets," Jasper teased.

"Like I said, I'm expecting never to use it. And as for the other things you moved upstairs, I'm never expecting to use those, either. I'm a doctor, and I want to be able to help my daughter if she needs me."

Esme shooed them back to work and she asked them to make sure that the packaging materials and trash were properly put in the dumpster in the small utility yard on the east side of the house.

I said, "Esme, I think the wind is starting to pick up. Let's go inside, shall we?"

"I would love to do that. Let's put her down in her crib and see how the blue room turned out."

As luck would have it, Bella showed absolutely no interest in drifting off to sleep. She was completely wide awake as we walked up the wide staircase. There was some loud guffawing coming from the room at the very end of the hallway, and we both grinned.

As Esme opened the door, I could imagine why Emmett and Jasper were busting up laughing. The stainless steel carts with monitors and trays and cabinets filled with paper wrapped gauze and plastic encapsulated syringes and a gurney underneath an overhead operating lamp made this room a ringer for a fully stocked trauma room.

I had to chuckle a bit myself. I had gone overboard in ordering. The medical supplier was, of course, overjoyed, with my order, but truly, truly I hoped never to need any of this.

I looked at it like this: the room was an empty, large spare room with pale blue walls. If I put a few supplies in it, what's the harm? Esme will probably tire of having this room occupied and since we probably won't need this stuff, we can always donate it to a worthy organization that could send it to a needy clinic or orphanage.

Edward silently stepped in the blue room and glanced around. I saw his spine stiffen as he shook his head sadly. "At least you see the danger, Carlisle. Our life can bring her harm."

I reached out to pat his shoulder and I looked at his sad eyes. The only thing I could think to say was, "I hope not, son. I pray that that never happens."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Bella, age 2 months

Alice's Point of View

I can't wait for Carlisle to come home from work. He originally had the day off, but there had been a horrible logging accident ten miles north of us, and several men were hurt trying to save a fellow logger. The emergency room was swamped with several serious injuries and of course, Carlisle offered his help.

Esme's small silver phone rang and Carlisle was saying that he was a few moments away. Esme whispered, "I love you, Carlisle. We all do."

Carlisle had arranged to take Bella to an afternoon appointment at a pediatrician's office for her first shots. He had known Dr. Shekerjian for years and liked her calm manner with children and how she ran her practice. Jas[er and I laughed when he mentioned this appointment last week. "What is the matter, Carlisle? Clearly you can give Bella a few shots. Isn't that the purpose of the upstairs hospital you built for her," we teased.

Always a good sport, Carlisle said, "That room is only for emergencies. And yes, I could give her immunizations, but I would like her to associate shots with someone other than her daddy, if truth be told!"

Carlisle was a good dad. He was enjoying this little squirt as much as the rest of us.

When he arrived home, he wrapped his scarf in a tidy loop and laid it on the granite-topped entry table and hung his coat on the antique secretary next to it. Esme and the baby greeted him at the door, but he just smiled and quickly headed to the kitchen to wash his hands before holding his arms out for Bella.

She was in a great mood. She had enjoyed her bath and was wearing a pink cotton miniskirt with a tiny white turtleneck topped with a jean jacket, and was wrapped in a pink blanket with darker pink hearts covering it. I had put a little pink bow on her head and it was held in place with a touch of Vaseline. Emmett laughed at that because she didn't have much hair yet, but I told him that there was an increasing amount of fuzz coming in all the time.

Carlisle returned from the kitchen and kissed Esme softly on the lips. He reached out his arms for Bella and for the first time, Bella grinned back! We knew that she was becoming more aware and more social with each day but this was the first time that we were treated to a returned smile.

Carlisle responded to the grin with a huge smile of his own, and said softly, "Good afternoon, my young lady! Are you a happy girl?"

And then she smiled again! The content emotions coming off of everyone weren't from Jasper. They were from all of us knowing that Bella was beginning to recognize her family.

Carlisle glimpsed at his watch and said, "We'd better get going. Her appointment is in 20 minutes."

I brought Esme and Carlisle Bella's diaper bag and told them, "There are two bottles of water in there, powdered formula and anything else you might need. If you have any problems, let us know. We're all here."

"I'm sure everything will be fine, Alice. We'll call you when we are done and on our way," he assured.

Rose and Emmett and Jasper and I all lined up to give her a kiss on her head and I told her to be brave and the shots would be over and then I'd take her shopping. When Esme heard this, she giggled, "Alice, she's eight weeks old. I don't know if she needs a shopping trip to take her mind off of her troubles!"

I said, "I'm merely training her, Esme." I waved goodbye to the three of them and hoped they would be back promptly.

Esme's Point of View

"What shots will she be getting, Carlisle?" I asked as I glanced over at Bella.

"Dr. Shekerjian told me on the phone that this two month appointment involves several," he answered. When Carlisle saw a frown cross my face, he reached over and patted my shoulder. "She'll get her first series of hepatitis B, rotovirus, DPT, h. influenzae, pneumococcus, and polio. Then she'll get the next series of the same at four months and again at six months."

"Oh, Carlisle. All of those shots at the same time in a small little body. I feel bad already," I cringed.

"It's hard, Esme, but these diseases are killers and, we have to do this. I'm just happy that I don't have to be the one that does it," he murmured.

"I know, Carlisle. I know."

When we pulled into the large parking lot in front of the professional offices, Bella smiled again as he unbuckled her infant seat. I felt guilty knowing that she was not going to be smiling for long.

"Esme," Carlisle started, "could you pull the plastic bag out of the back seat for me?"

"Sure," I responded.

When we registered at the receptionist's desk, Carlisle reached for the plastic bag and pulled out a bottle of pain reliever. "I wanted to give her something before the immunizations. It will help if she spikes a fever afterwards," he explained.

He drew up the dose he planned on giving her and he teased her lips with it. She appeared to like it and she licked at it with her tiny tongue. Before we knew it, she had sucked it all down.

The medical assistant opened the door to the waiting room and called out, "Bella Cullen?"

We stood up and followed her into a pleasant treatment room with soft rose walls and skateboarding puppies circling the walls. The medical assistant seemed busy, but even in that mindset, she noticed how cute Bella was and touched her small foot. She took her eyes off of smiling Bella long enough to see Dr. Shekerjian's handwritten note. "It looks like she's here for her two month shots, and not an exam, correct?"

"Yes," said Esme, "my husband arranged that earlier with Dr. Shekerjian."

"Well, that's fine. Please pull down her tights and when the shot nurse comes in, we'll be all set," she instructed and left the room quickly.

Five minutes later, an unsmiling and clearly upset girl in her early twenties threw the door open. The noise startled Bella and she pushed her lower lip out in a sad frown. Carlisle put his hand gently on her tummy and patted softly and said, "Sshh, sweetheart." The frown started to disappear.

The scowling nurse said abruptly, "Can you sign here and verify that you have read the consents?"

Carlisle took his sterling silver pen out of his shirt pocket and scribbled "Carlisle Cullen" on the triplicate form and he glanced at me. We had been together long enough for me to know what the look on his face said. It said "trouble."

Bella started to whimper and we hadn't even started with the immunizations. The nurse reached for Bella and set her down roughly on the exam table.

I could see that Carlisle was not going to allow this person to touch Bella.

In the next instant, the nurse positioned herself to hold Bella's little thigh and reached for the first syringe.

Carlisle spoke softly, but firmly and said, "You are not giving these injections" and put his hand on Bella's little leg. The nurse was jarred, but said, "You are going to have to move that hand, Dad. This is going to take a while, and you are in my way."

As she said this, she yanked on Bella's arm to reposition her on the table and knock Carlisle's arm away at the same time. I was surprised that Carlisle didn't growl, but I was very close to it. "We'll be leaving," he announced and he picked Bella up carefully from the table.

The unwise nurse tried to pull Bella out of Carlisle's arms and he flashed a look at her that I have only seen on very few occasions. He said exquisitely softly with a pause between each word, "Take. Your. Hands. Off. Of. Our. Baby."

She looked, at that very moment, terrified.

The door opened abruptly and a mortified Dr. Shekerjian took in the scene before her. "Jessica, go to the nurse's station and wait for me. Do this now."

Jessica looked both scared and angry.

Dr. Shekerkian took a moment before speaking. "They told me you were here and I had expressly told them that I would be giving these shots, Carlisle. That woman was from the staffing service to cover for Helen who's out for a few days. I had already told the service and told them that she was unacceptable for our office. I think she might have been trying to show that she was worthy of being hired fulltime. Please forgive me, Carlisle. I'm horrified."

Carlisle smiled his kindest smile and said, "Of course, Diana. I understand."

"Do you still trust me to take care of Bella's immunizations?" she queried.

"Completely, Diana. Please go right ahead."

Dr. Shekerkian smiled at Bella and played with her for a few moments. "May I?" she asked as she pointed to her stethoscope.

"Absolutely," Carlisle answered.

She listened to Bella and gave her a careful exam. "This is one healthy little girl you have here. She's petite for her age, but her height and weight correlate and I'm not concerned. Are you ready for the pointy part of the appointment?"

When we shook our heads yes, she gently held Bella's leg while Carlisle leaned closer to Bella's face and spoke softly to her. The first needle hit its target and Bella howled in shocked outrage. The screaming got worse with each consecutive poke until Bella was too exhausted from crying to make much more noise.

"You can give her pain reliever according to this chart and that will keep her more comfortable. Call me on my cell if you have any concerns. And again, I apologize for Jessica. She won't work in any office by the end of the day. I assure you."

Carlisle thanked the pediatrician again and we carried a trembling Bella to the Mercedes. "She looks a bit grey, Carlisle," I mumbled.

"She's had a long day. Let's get her home. Maybe we should bring Jasper the next time," Carlisle murmured in response.


End file.
